Linda L. Cunningham Collection

Linda L. Cunningham (1939-) is a sculptural and multimedia artist who was an active participant in the feminist art movement in the 1970s and 1980s. She is a New York City-based artist who exhibits extensively both in New York and Germany. As a former professor (1976-2002), Linda Cunningham founded and administered the exhibition program at Franklin and Marshall College. During her tenure, she was involved with various national women artist groups, including the Women's Caucus for Art and the Coalition of Women's Art Organizations, which actively focused on increasing women's presence and acknowledgement within the art community. She was also involved in organizing the first open artist studios in the South Bronx in 2005, and in early 2009 she helped found BronxArtSpace. Currently she lives in Florida.

The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA) was founded in 1972 after a gathering of women members at the College Art Association's (CCA) 61st conference in San Francisco, CA. The gathering addressed the lack of female representation at the conference, both on the board of directors and presenters. Inspired by the second wave feminist movement, female artists collaborated to gain recognition within the art community. Elected at the first gathering, Ann Sutherland Harris was elected WCA's first president. Members of WCA organized protests, female-focused art exhibitions, and conferences. They also promoted increased research on women artists and feminist perspectives on art. Efforts included developing women's studies courses for colleges and universities and publishing writings of various lengths on the topic. A major event in the organization's early history was participating in the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas on November 18 to 21, 1977, as part of the International Year of the Woman (IYW). IYW was an initiative created by the United Nations in 1975 to end discrimination against women worldwide. The United States had numerous events held by private and public organizations to honor the year's designation, such as the conference in Houston. The federal government created the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year to gather and present statistical information on the status of women in society. The report they created included a national plan of action that presented recommendations on major issues affecting women.

In 1977, right before the Houston conference, the Coalition of Women's Art Organizations (CWAO) was created within WCA to act as a political lobbying group. Designated as a 501(c)(6) organization, the CWAO was legally allowed to dedicate all their activities to political issues, unlike the WCA which was limited to 20 percent of total expenditure for political activities. Linda Cunningham designed the organization's structure and wrote its bylaws before the first official meeting in January 1978 in New York. Utilizing the IYW Commission report, state arts workshops and panels feedback, and a CWAO poll, she worked with other activists to create the coalition's first national platform. Cunningham also served as CWAO's Vice President of Membership. The group was pivotal in political actions included lobbying Congress and testifying on arts legislation and the publication of statistics on sex differentials in employment and in exhibition opportunities.

On September 27, 1986, WCA sponsored a nation-wide series of events under the title Women Artists Visibility Event II (WAVE II) "Now You See Us". The event was a follow-up to 1984's WAVE "The Museum of Modern Art Opens But Not To Women Artists" in New York. The events were intended to draw attention to the work of contemporary women in the visual arts and the failures of some major institutions to recognize their contributions to the field. Institutions identified as transgressors were ones that received public funding but did not represent diverse populations in their collections and exhibitions. Linda Cunningham was the national coordinator for the event that included 16 WCA chapters from across the country. Some of the chapters that participated were New York, Miami, Kentucky, Seattle, Minnesota, San Antonio, Indiana, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. The local events consisted of protests, marches, guest speakers, performance art, and discussion groups.